The director of health shall promulgate rules and regulations
not in conflict with any provision of this article, as it finds
necessary in order to ensure adequate care and accommodations for
consumers of birthing centers. In promulgating such regulations
the director shall be limited to simple, necessary provisions which
shall not have the effect of hampering the development and
licensure of birthing centers. Such regulations shall not address
acceptable site characteristics such as the number of minutes of
travel time between a birthing center and a hospital, or physical
environment, such as acceptable levels of temperature of any
refrigerator found in a birthing center, or clinical equipment,
such as the number and kind of clocks which a birthing center must
have on the premises. Such regulations shall require that all
birthing centers submit satisfactory evidence that the center has
implemented the paternity program created pursuant to section
thirteen of this article along with any application for licensure.

The Legislature hereby finds and declares that it is in the
public interest to encourage the development of birthing centers
for the purpose of providing an alternative method of birth and
therefore, in order to provide for the licensing of such birthing
centers to prevent substantial harm to the public interest because
of preexisting delay, within sixty days of passage of this article,
the director of health shall proceed to promulgate such rules and
regulations under the provisions of section fifteen, article three,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2014 1st Special Session
The WV Code Online is an unofficial copy of the annotated WV Code, provided as a convenience. It has NOT been edited for publication, and is not in any way official or authoritative.